As for amorphous alloys, there have heretofore been known Fe—P—C-based alloy which was first produced in the 1960s, (Fe, Co, Ni)—P—B-based alloy, (Fe, Co, Ni)—Si—B-based alloy, (Fe, Co, Ni)—(Zr, Hf, Nb)-based alloy and (Fe, Co, Ni)—(Zr, Hf, Nb)—B-based alloy which were produced in the 1970s.
All of the above alloys are essentially subjected to a rapid solidification process at a cooling rate of 104 K/s or more, and an obtained sample is a thin strip having a thickness of 200 μm or less. Between 1988 and 2001, various metallic glass alloys exhibiting high glass forming ability, which have a composition, such as Ln—Al—TM, Mg—Ln—TM, Zr—Al—TM, Pd—Cu—Ni—P, (Fe, Co, Ni)—(Zr, Hf, Nb)—B, Fe—(Al, Ga)—P—B—C, Fe—(Nb, Cr, Mo)—(Al, Ga)—P—B—C, Fe—(Cr, Mo)—Ga—P—B—C, Fe—Co—Ga—P—B—C, Fe—Ga—P—B—C or Fe—Ga—P—B—C—Si (wherein Ln is a rare-earth element, and TM is a transition metal), were discovered. These alloys can be formed as a metallic glass bar having a diameter or thickness of 1 mm or more.
The inventor previously filed a patent application concerning a soft magnetic metallic glass alloy of Co—(Fe, Ni)—(Ti, Zr, Nb, Ta, Hf, Mo, W)—(Cr, Mn, Ru, Rh, Pd, Os, Ir, Pt, Al, Ga, Si, Ge, C, P)—B, which has a supercooled-liquid temperature interval (ΔTχ) of 20 to 45 K and a coercive force (Hc) of 2 to 9 A/m (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 10-324939).